Distant control of telescopes or cameras



April 13 1926.

J. B. HENDERSON DISTANT CONTROL OF TELESCOPES OR CAMERAS Filed July 26, 1919 INVENTOR. James 8. Henderson.

BY 7 fiuz w//g ATTORNEYS. I

Patented Apr. 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES JAMES BLAGKLOCK HENDERSON, F LEE, ENGLAND.

DISTANT CONTROL OF TELESCOPES OR CAMERAS.

Application filed July 26, 1919. Serial No. 313,534.

(GRANTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT GE! MARCH 3, 1921, 41 STAT. L, 1313.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BLACKLOCK HENDERSON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at No. 2 Cambridge Road,

Lee, in the county of Kent, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Distant Control of Telescopes or Cameras (for which I have filed an application in England, No. 4,559, March 28, 1916), of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved optical instrument such as a telescope or camera in which the field of view may be controlled from a distance. For example, in observing by means of a telescope the fall of shot during naval gunfire it is desirable that the field of view of the spotter should be controlled to follow the guns so as to be certain that the spotter is noting the fall of shot round or upon the proper target.

According to my invention I employ a telescope having an optical system of the type described in my previous British patent application No. 6,977 of th May 1915, and instead of controlling the stabilized internal part of the optical system by means of a gyroscope I control it from a distant I oint, for example from the director tower so that the field of view always contains at its centre the target on which the guns are laid. v In the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention in one of its forms as applied to a telescope,

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of the telescope with the cover plate removed, the box containing the gears being shown in section.

Fig. 2 shows a central vertical cross section of the telescope.

Fig. 3 shows a plan of the gear box with the cover removed.

Fig. 4: is a side elevation partly in section of the telescope arranged for viewing aircraft.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view, showing the control of the instrument from a distant r station. The instrument consists of a prismatic telescope of which the objective 1 and eyepiece 2 are carried by a cylindrical box 3 which fits outside the cylindrical ring 4:. Holes are cut in the ring 4 to clear the objective 1 and eyepiece 2 and the side otthe box 3 is cut away to leave the box free to be elevated or depressed say through 30. The cover plate 5 serves to close the box 3 and to keep it in position on the ring at. The box 3 and ring 1 may be turned in azimuth on the sleeve bearing 6 the outer sleeve 6 of the bearing being cast on the ring and the inner sleeve 6 being a projection on the top of the gear-box 7 which is carried by the pedestal 8.

' Two concentric spindles 6 and 6 pass through the sleeve 6 of the gear-box, these spindles serving respectively to train and to tilt the prisms of the telescope. The prisms 9 and 10 are clamped together between the two plates 11 and 12 which carry the trunnions 13 and 14: on WVlllOll the prisms are mounted in the fork 15 which is fixed to the spindle 6. The bevel toothed sector 16 is fixed to the plate 12 by the bracket 18 and it gears with the bevel pinion 17 which is keyed on the end of-the spindle 6. It is evident that it the spindle 6 is rotated the prisms are caused to turn in azimuth and if 6 is rotated-the prisms are caused to tilt on the trunnions 13-, 14.

The spindle 6 is operable by receiver ii'ieclianisin which will now be described. The spindle 6 carries at its lower end the two armed spider 19 which supports the two epicyclic pinions 20 and 21 on the spindles 22 and 23 respectively. The spider 19 is trained by the centre wheel 24 of the epicyclic gear which is turned by the worm 25 gearing with the worm wheel 26. The outer ring 27 of the epicyclic is toothed internally and gears with the pinions 20 and 21. It is normally fixed to the box 7 but it may be turned relatively to the box by means of the knob 28 which projects through .a slot in the box and the position of the knob 28 is indicated by a pointer 29 and ascale on the flange 01": the gear box.

The spindle 6 is turned by receiver mechanism which includes the worm 30 and worm wheel 31. The two worms 25 and 30 may be turned by step by step electric motors 32 and 33 which also'form part of the receiver mechanism and are controlled by transmitters 34: and 35 in the distant station 36.

These motors and transmitters are shown and are each formed of two parts normally coupled by a clutch 37. The clutch member 38 on one of the sections of the shaft has pins adapted to fitintoholes in the clutch member 39 on the other section or the shaft. The clutch member 39-has a sliding driving fit with its shaft, and may be pressed against a spring 40 to be disengagec from the clutch member 88. Thereafter, the periphery of the clutch member 39 may be grasped and turned to actuate its worm 25 or 30 independently of thecontrol of-the distant station. here no distant control is wanted, the clutch member-39 may be replaced by a knob on the shaft.

The method of using the instrument is as follows :The observer trains ancbelevates thetelescope by hand by grasping the eyepiece and moves it about untilhe gets afield of view. When this field of view ismost clearly defined the relative arrangement of the telescope parts is that-shown in 1,

and but tor a motion oftheeyepiece of say 10 up or down or on either side in azimuth, the field of vicw does not change. Beyond that displacement the field otview is cut oil completely. So long as the observer secs anything he knows that thefield of view is chosen for him'by the step by step motor which is controlled from the distant station, and that no motion of the telescopetube can alter the field of view relatively-'to the cross wires.

For some purposes it is necessary-thatthe observer should be able to alter thefield of view relatively to the cross wires independen ly of thetra 'ismitting station. F oreXample in a spotters telescope worked tron'i the director tower on board of a ship of war, it is necessary that the observer should be able to allow for the deflection which set on the director telescope relatively tothetower, or again-in long base range finders tlie'transmittermay give the observer atone end of the base a line of sight parallel to that of a telescope at the other. end of the base and he must then be able to bring his line of collimation on to the target andto measure the angle throughwhich it has been turned in doing so. F or either purpose the toothed ring 27 may be turned by means of the knob 28. In the one case the pointer 29 would be set to the required deflection and in the other case the pointer 29 would read oil the angle subtended at thetarget by the base of the range finder.

Only one optical system is illustrated'in the figure but I may employ any o't'tlie optical systems which I have described in my British'Patcnts Nos. 697 and 16669 of 1 915.

For anti-aircraft range finding or other similar purpose in which the telescope has to be elevated to the zenith I may conveniently impart an initial elevation to the line of collimation of the telescope of say by means of two reflectors ll and 42 placed outside the objective and attached as in a bracket ,i-8, to the bore 3 which carries the objective so thatthe eyepiece need not be elevated or depressed more than say 30 from the horizontal.

To make a camera out of a telescope a sensitive plate may be placed .inthe focal plane or a cameramay be attached rigidly to the eyepiece of the. telescopeiinthewvelh lrnown manner.

Having now particularly described and ascertained thenature of mylsaidinvention and iuwhat manner the same is tobepeT-i formed, I declare that whatiI claimis 1; in an optical instrument,.a telescopic sight member,reflecting. prisms, a support therefor, said member and supportrbeing common axis, and operating meanssubject to remote control operable to more .lsaid prism support about said-axis independently of I said member.

mounted for independent movement abouta 2. in an optical instrument, a telesco pic sight member, reflecting prisms, .asupport therefor, said member and support being mounted for independent movement about. a

commonaris to bring said siglitingn'iember and prisms into and out ofdeflection-c011 veying relationship, and .operating vmeans subject to remote control operable to relatively move said member and prismsupport.

3. In an optical; instruinent. a telescopic sight member, refi .cting prisms,..a support therefor, said member and support being mounted for independent movcment in altitude and azimuth aboutcommon.axes,.and operating means subject to remotecontrol operableto actuate said support and prisms independently of said member.

l. in an optical instrument,an objective, reflecting prisms. separate supports fol-said objective and said prisms independently movable about a commonaxis, anactuating connection controlling said prism .snpport and prisms operable from av distant station, and a local control at the instrumenttor said prisms operable independently of 1tl1e distant control.

5. In an optical instrument,a sightmemher and a prism system mounted torfindependent mov nent about acommonaxis into i a position ot'mutual alignment wherein a with optical parts adaptedto coact withthe light beam passes through the instrument,

iii

optical parts of the other member, and actuating means controllable from a distant station to move one of said telescope members to establish the field of view of the instrument, the other member being optically adjustable thereto.

7. In an optical instrument, a sight member and a prism system mounted for independent movement about a common axis, actuating means controllable from a distant station operatively connected to said prism system and adapted to selectively position the same, said sight member being adjustable to said prism system, and manually operable means at the instrument for adjusting the prism system about said axis whereby the selected field of View is adjusted to the focal plane of the instrument.

8. An optical instrument comprising a frame, a member movably mounted on the frame and carrying some of the optical parts of the instrument, a second member mounted on the frame for movement about two mutually perpendicular axes and carry ing other optical parts and scans whereby said second member may be actuated from a distant station to permit the field of the instrument to be cont-rolled from such station.

9. An optical instrument comprising a frame, a member movably mounted on the frame and carrying some of the optical parts of the instrument, a second member rotatably mounted on the frame, a third member rotatably mounted on the second member and carrying other optical parts, said members being rotatable about a comnon axis, and means for actuating from a distant station said second and third mem bers whereby the field of the instrument may be controlled from such station.

10. In an optical instrument provided with an objective, an eye-piece and reflecting prisms, the combination of a swivelling support for said prisms, and. a supportoseillating drive under the control of a distant station operable to move the prisms from a distant station about an axis per pendicular to the line of collimation of the objective and eye-piece.

11. In an optical instrument provided with an objective and an eye-piece, with reflecting prisms between them, the combination of a support for said prisms mounted to swivel in a plurality of directions, support-swivelling means selectively operable from a distant station to move the prisms in a chosen direction independently of the objective and eye-piece.

12. In an optical instrument the combina tion of an objective, a movable mounting therefor permitting it to be pointed directly at the obj ct to be viewed, an eye-piece held coaction with said objective, a prism for system between the objective and the eyepiece, a mounting for said prism system movable about a pair of angularly disposed axes, and means for actuating the prism mounting from a distant station independently of the objective to control the field of I view of the instrument.

13. In. an optical instrument, the combination of a frame, an ob ective, an eye-piece, a member movably mounted on the frame and carrying the objective and eye-piece,

said member being adapted to turn about an axis perpendicular to the line of collimation of the two last named elements, a second member mounted on the frame for movement about the aforesaid axis, prisms movable with said second member and means for moving the second member independently of the first member to control the field of view of the instrument.

14. In an optical instrument, a casing mounted. to turn, a pivoted support, a system of optical parts divided into groups one group being mounted on said casing and another roup being retained on said support, said groups of optical parts requiring a relative positioning to render the optical system effective, a receiver mechanism controlling the position of said support, and a transmission systm controlled by a distant operator and operatively connected to said mechanism to set the same in a position selected by the distant operator, said casing being adapted to be turned to position its optical parts in cooperative relation to those mounted on said support.

. 15. In an optical instrument, a casing and a pivoted holder each mounted to independently turn about axes angularly disposed to each other and common to said casing and holder, a system of optical parts divided into groups one group mounted on said casing and another group being retained by said holder, said groups of optical parts requiring relative positioning to render the optical system effective, a support for the instrument, differential means associated with said instrument support and operatively connected to said optical parts holder, 2. receiver mechanism .actuatingly connected to said differential JAMES BLACKLOCK HENDERSON.

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